On campus bus tour, president proposes new rules on federal aid to higher education

BUFFALO, N.Y. 
President Barack Obama declared a crisis in the soaring cost of higher education here Thursday and unveiled a broad new plan that aims to make college education more affordable by tying federal financial aid to new college ratings.

The plan, which Obama rolled out as he opened a two-day campaign-style bus tour of college campuses, would create a rating system beginning in 2015 to evaluate colleges on tuition, the percentage of low-income students, graduation rates and debt of graduates.

Eventually, as an incentive for schools to make improvements in these areas, federal financial aid would be awarded based on those ratings. Obama said he could create the ratings system through executive action, but the plan to reallocate federal aid based on the ratings would require congressional approval.

“Higher education should not be a luxury. It is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford,” Obama said, addressing a basketball arena packed with students at the University at Buffalo.

Obama said in a global knowledge-based economy, a quality college education is more important than ever. He pitched the ratings system as a consumer guide for prospective students and their parents, evaluating which schools offer “the bigger bang for the buck.”

“Colleges that keep their tuition down and are providing high-quality education are the ones that are going to see their taxpayer money going up,” Obama said.

The average tuition at public four-year colleges has increased by more than 250 percent over the past three decades, while incomes for typical families grew by 16 percent, according to College Board and census data that Obama cited. This trend, he said, is a “crisis” and represents “a barrier and a burden to too many American families.”

Obama seeks to make college more affordable in two ways. First, the ratings would reward colleges that offer “value.” A school that holds down average tuition and student-loan debt could rise in the ratings, which means that the system would act as an incentive for colleges to keep those costs as low as possible. In addition, higher-rated schools would qualify for larger federal grants, making them more affordable for students.

Obama’s proposal comes as the White House prepares for battle with House Republicans on a series of fiscal issues in the fall, and it isn’t clear whether he can succeed in persuading lawmakers to back this or any other initiative.

Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, applauded Obama’s goal of promoting innovation and competition. But he added: “I remain concerned that imposing an arbitrary college ranking system could curtail the very innovation we hope to encourage — and even lead to federal price controls.”

Still, the president says he’s on “a personal mission” to combat soaring tuition at the nation’s colleges and to make higher education more affordable for middle-class families.

“Just tinkering around the edges won’t be enough,” Obama wrote in an email to supporters this week. “We’ve got to shake up the current system.”